


loosen my heart strings (in high hopes of starting to find something truthful)

by WhatsATerrarium



Category: The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Anachronistic, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsATerrarium/pseuds/WhatsATerrarium
Summary: Captain Bright and her crew have been searching for leverage against General Annabelle Whitney and her army for a long time, and when it's dropped right into their laps, they have to make a difficult choice.OR:Joan and Caleb are both entirely unsure about the idea of taking hostages.  If only partially because they're not entirely surehowto take hostages.Though they're both pretty sure that falling in love with them isn't supposed to be part of the plan.
Relationships: Adam Hayes & Owen Thompson | Agent Green, Adam Hayes/Caleb Michaels, Joan Bright & Caleb Michaels, Joan Bright/Owen Thompson | Agent Green, Mark Bryant/Oliver Ritz, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "Cynicism" by Nana Grizol.

Adam Hayes is not one for simple memories. If something happens to Adam, he remembers it vividly. He strives to live a grand life, and so in his head, every experience and every thought is painted with as much detail and grandeur as possible. If Adam were to say that something went by in a blur, that would be the best reassurance that one could receive that it truly did.

Being kidnapped went by in a blur.

He had been reading when the ship was boarded. He had heard shouts from outside his cabin and heavy footsteps scrambling across the deck. That he remembers clearly, and that he can romanticize. The terror that gripped ahold of him was fascinating. He still hadn’t been sure what was going on, but he had thrown open the door, book still tucked under his arm, ready to see what chaos lay in wait.

After hurrying out to the deck, he remembers the sight he was greeted with plain as day.

The crew was small. The ship was small. This was supposed to be an under-the-radar voyage. Annabelle had warned him against travel, she had told him that the current tensions between her army and those they shared the seas with were bound to cause trouble sooner or later, that she couldn’t risk him getting caught in the crosshairs. But Adam’s concerns lay far more with his education than with the dangers of oceanic travel. His aunt’s concerns did nothing to dissuade him from attending the prestigious boarding school where he’d been studying for years, and so when it came time for him to be sent off to school for the coming semester, he found himself on a small ship, one that would draw little attention and hopefully stay off the radar of anyone with ill intent towards Annabelle, staffed with a small crew of soldiers and one of her closest advisors. They were supposedly to stay posted nearby his school, watching out for him and reporting back to Annabelle.

So the crew was small. Small enough to allow them to go unnoticed, and small enough to stay behind with him, keeping watch. Apparently also small enough to be struggling with defending against the group he’d assumed had just forcibly boarded them.

“Don’t hurt anyone!” A voice had cut through the air, one he didn’t recognize, but he hadn’t needed to recognize them to know that it wasn’t one of Annabelle’s crew. They wouldn’t be merciful.

  
He was supposed to go below deck, wait it out and try to remain safe. He didn’t need to be told that to know it. But there had been so much happening, he had hesitated to leave it. He had pressed himself up against the door he’d just come out of, trying to make himself small and unknown as the combat drew closer to him.

_ “Adam!” _ a voice shouted, as a figure began racing towards him. That was a voice he recognized.

It wasn’t that Adam would describe Owen Thompson as the bane of his existence, no, he would never. Now, if  _ someone else _ wanted to describe Owen as the bane of Adam’s existence, Adam wouldn’t exactly object, but he himself would never admit to such a petty thing and he prides himself on that.

Owen was gripping onto Adam’s arm and swinging open the door behind him before the initial shock could even wear off. He had practically dragged him below deck, releasing his arm only when they were both running towards the room furthest down the hall. 

Adam had nothing against Owen personally, he simply wasn’t a fan of the man who had been tasked with playing babysitter to him one too many times. Owen was one of Annabelle’s closest advisors, and therefore apparently one of the only people she could deem trustworthy enough to help her keep an eye on Adam.

Adam ran without even thinking about it, stopping when Owen pulled out a key and threw open a door. Not sure he had much of a choice on where to go, he had followed after him into what he was then coming to register as the small room where the crew stored food materials and spare resources in crates. “Why are we in  _ here?” _ he panted, a sense of dread setting in once one he had realized how close the walls in the room really were to each other. Fuck.

“Because,” Owen responded, also sounding as though he were trying to catch his breath as he locked the door behind them. “This door can lock from the inside. And because in case… whatever happens up there takes long, there’s at least food down here.”   
  
“Why the hell can the door to the  _ storage room _ lock from the inside.” He tried to hide the fear in his voice, almost due more to the claustrophobic space than to the situation at hand.

“I didn’t design the ship, Adam,” Owen sighed, leaning against the wall.

“What-- What’s happening up there?”   
  
“We’ve been boarded by pirates,” he responds. “I’m not sure, but it looked like… that ship looked like the Bright Aurora.”   
  
“Wait, what?” That made him focus a lot less on the crawling feeling in his skin he got from looking at the walls of the room. “The Bright Aurora, that’s--”   
  
“Yeah,” he breathed in response, steadying himself a bit before responding more firmly. “We need to stay here.”

That part wasn’t the blur. No, the sitting and waiting and few words attempt at awkward conversation very much wasn’t what had blurred in his mind. That, he can remember in excruciatingly painful detail. He remembers every second of sitting and waiting in that cramped room, eyes closed so that he couldn’t remind himself by looking around of how the walls seemed to grow closer and closer and closer with every deep breath he took.

The blur wasn’t the knock either. It wasn’t the sound of someone’s fist banging harshly against the door and the loud familiar voice that called out: “Thompson! You got the kid in there?” No, he remembers that too. He remembers the relief that flooded him. “It’s taken care of, you can come out.”

He remembers how Owen had stood up abruptly, nearly losing his balance as he pulled out the key and rushed to the door. He remembers finally feeling like he could breath normally as it was opened and they both hurried out.

He remembers the almost sinister look on the face of the man who had just been talking to them. Then came the blur.

The blur was being grabbed from behind and having his hands bound quicker than he could process. The blur was his cries of surprise and protest mixing with Owen’s and being drowned out by the chatter of other crewmates and pirates as they were dragged forcefully to the deck. The blur was kicking and fighting and protesting, and a quiet voice whispering in his ear. “I’m really sorry about this, just try to cooperate please.”

The blur was more kicking and screaming and being thrown over the shoulder of his still-apologizing captor.

The only clear memories were the sight of the crew growing more and more distant, with the sun blazing above them and stinging his eyes, and the voice of the person carrying him, telling him not to worry.


	2. sailing on a ship in a bottle (anchor all your thoughts to the bottom)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had this in my drafts for like a week I just didn't post it because it's bad, sorry.
> 
> Title is from "Ship in a Bottle" by Steffan Argus.

Owen hates that for just a few seconds, he’s grateful. When the chaos dies down and the frantic beating of his heart starts to calm, reality starts to set in, finally forcing its way into his mind in a capacity that he can process.

  


He’s being led with his hands bound through the ship of the pirate he’s been helping Ellie plot against for years. The man who’s gripping tightly onto his arms and guiding him to wherever it is they’re on their way to doesn’t say anything and so Owen doesn’t either. He’s sure they’re both calculating what comes next. He may not be entirely aware of what the pirates’ aim here is, but so far it’s becoming increasingly clear from the behavior of their captors that this isn’t something they had planned. 

  


So now, Owen is frantically running through everything he knows about this crew, about the sea, about human psychology, about combat-- he about  _ anything _ that might help him out of here. And presumably, the shorter man walking behind him is doing the same. Mentally flipping through all of  _ his _ knowledge, trying to figure out where things are going to go from here and how he’s going to play his part in keeping things under control. Because from what Owen knows about this crew, they’ve never tended to take hostages. They steal resources and ships, they make demands and they make deals, but he’s never known them to take a person’s life from them, neither in the sense of murder  _ or _ the sense of imprisonment. It’s something he’s always found somewhat admirable about them-- not that he wouldn’t die before ever admitting it to Ellie. Then again, he’s not going to dismiss the possibility that he’s misjudged these people entirely.

  


Though he and the man behind him may be walking silently in thought, Adam’s protests have all eyes on the deck glued to them. Then again, it’s not like people probably wouldn’t be staring anyways. The rest of the crew seem to be gathered around in a crowd at starboard by now, none of them speaking a word as their compatriots lead Owen and Adam across the deck.

  


“Let  _ go _ of me, asshole!” He hears the shouting from next to him and when he turns, he sees Adam struggling from where he’s slung over his captor’s shoulder. “My aunt is going to send someone to rescue me, and you’ll all be  _ sorry _ when she does.”

  


There it was. Some recognition of the fact that gave Owen a brief surge of gratitude towards a god he doesn’t believe in. And he hates himself for it. He hates that for a minute, he’s grateful that Adam was taken too.

  


Because Adam is right. Ellie will fight tooth and nail to get her nephew back, she’ll unleash all hell upon the people who took him until he’s safe.

  


Had it been Owen alone, he’s not sure he even wants to dwell on how long it’d be for anyone to care enough to rescue him. Ellie would try to get him back, sure, but by no means would he be a priority.

  


He is fully aware that he deserves the worst these pirates could do to him for even thinking it-- Adam is a  _ child _ who deserves to be kept as far away from danger as possible-- but if he had to be kidnapped and held for God knows what with anyone from the ship, it’d be Adam. Though in his head he tries to balance out the morality in his reasoning as, conversely, he’s glad that of all the people who could have been taken along with Adam, Owen was the other unfortunate soul the pirates went after. Owen’s not going to pretend he trusts the rest of the crew Ellie had sent along on that ship,  _ especially _ not after he had watched them so easily hand them over to the enemy, at least Adam is stuck with someone who is going to make at least  _ some effort _ to protect him, not just fend for himself.

  


“I’m so sorry, okay?” says a voice from next to him, the man, no, the  _ boy _ \-- he may appear older because of his height but his voice is a dead giveaway-- carrying Adam is attempting to calm him. “Listen, I can put you down, just-- please stop kicking, I’m--”   
  
“Okay, fine! Now fucking put me down.” He turns to see Adam go still, and watches as the much taller teenager carrying him gently sets him down. He sees a flash of something rebellious, something  _ angry _ in Adam’s eyes and for a second he worries before seeing Adam calm down. He’s a smart kid, he knows that they have no way out.

  


“I’m… really sorry.”

  


Then, the man behind Owen speaks up. “Yeah, no, this is… listen, we’re not normally ones to take hostages. From what I understand, this is going to be a very temporary arrangement.” They’re below deck now, and still walking, though only for a few seconds before the man guiding him stops in front of one of the doors lining the hall and begins fishing through his pockets for a key. “I promise that no one is going to hurt you. You’re both going to be fine, alright?” He opens the door and in front of them is an empty room.

  


They take a few steps forward inside and Owen feels the rope around his wrists start to loosen.

  


“Caleb, can you--”   
  
“Right,” the boy holding Adam-- Caleb-- responds, still looking a bit panicked. He begins undoing the knots holding Adam’s hands together, and Owen watches as their kidnappers move towards the door once the two of them are untied.

  


“We’re going to have to leave you here for a few minutes,” the shorter one begins.

  


“Sorry about that,” the other chimes in.

  


“Yeah. Someone should be down here in a few minutes who can well… explain what the hell is going on, I guess.” His voice is tinted with a bitter edge, securing in Owen’s mind the assumption that this man didn’t have much clue where things were going to go from here. From the sound of it, he wasn’t used to being left out either.

  


Owen debates saying something as the two pirates walk out and the door closes behind them. He hears it click shut and then he hears it lock before he can think of anything.

  


He feels a bit better now at the very least. The reassurances they’d given didn’t completely make him feel better by any means but well, it did make clear that they probably weren’t very likely to be harmed at the very least.

  


“What the hell are we going to do?” Adam asks quietly and through gritted teeth, as though he’s half angry and half scared, interrupting Owen’s train of thought.

  


“We’re going to wait,” Owen exhales, sitting down up against the nearest wall. “We’ll see what… what they have to say, get an idea of what’s going on and then… and then we’ll figure things out from there.”   
  
“...Right,” Adam replies, sitting down slowly against the wall opposite him. “So this is definitely Captain Bright’s ship, right?”

  


“From what I could see of it, yes. I don’t know what much of the crew looks like, though some of them did seem familiar, but… this is definitely her ship.”

  


“Fantastic,” Adam sighs sarcastically.

  


“Your aunt’s been after these people a long time, Adam, I’ve never heard of them hurting people when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. And those two seemed… genuine.”

  


_ “Seemed.” _

  


Owen doesn’t respond. He has perhaps a million thoughts and maybe a hundred ideas of something he can actually form into a coherent reply, but in the time it takes for him to sort them out, minutes pass.

  


Now obviously he wasn’t exactly keeping track of how many minutes, but it was enough. Enough for a comfortable silence to settle over the room and over both of them like a barrier, making even the idea of conversation feel laughable once they’d grown quiet. A dark, dark part of his mind wonders if they’ll simply be left down here to rot in their silence.

**Author's Note:**

> So a big reason why I don't usually leave comments is that it doesn’t feel like a conversation, it feels too definite. So, as opposed to asking you to leave comments (which I do still very much appreciate and will respond to if that’s your thing), I’m going to let you know how to contact me!
> 
> Instagram: whats_a_terrarium  
> Discord: whats_a_terrarium#0251  
> Tumblr: whats-a-terrarium  
> Twitter: whatsaterrarium
> 
> If you have any thoughts, ideas, constructive criticism, or just want to ramble, never hesitate! :)


End file.
